How do you prepare an Illinois high school, college, university transcript for an apostille?
The transcript must be certified/signed by a school official (principal, registrar, counselor, etc.) The signature of the school official must be original.
Sample certification:
The signature of the school official must be notarized by an Illinois Notary Public. The notary must use a notarial certificate, otherwise the document cannot be apostilled. The best notarial certificate would be the Acknowledgment in Representative Capacity (Illinois Notary Public Handbook):
Acknowledgment (representative capacity):
Other acceptable notarial certificates (Illinois Notary Public Handbook)
Acknowledgment (individual capacity):
Witnessing or attesting a signature:
Jurat:
Can an Illinois notary certify a copy of a transcript?
According to the instructions of the Illinois Secretary of State for school documents, "the person in charge of the records (normally the registrar or principal) certifies and signs the record in the presence of the Notary Public, who then notarizes that statement".
Notaried copies of school transcripts, not certified and signed by a school official, might be rejected for apostilles.
